Repost World Design Blogs

 20 years ago I was in Cuba for a training period.

Yep, like that.

A few years later the website AdmirableDesign (created by Gérard CARON) started a blog platform to share about design all over the worl (made by Joris BEBIN).

I participated with my cuban experience, also with deutsch and finnish ones.

I loved this exchange platform but then it went without maintenance and died.

I wanted to have a trace from this. Actually the idea emerged when I started to teach in 2015!

Every year since I've been saying I wanted to repost all of this as a good resolution.

It's 20 years since I've been in Cuba so I decided it was time to find and restore these archives as to repost these.

Also to repost the articles I wrote for the main site AdmirableDesign and why not my famous A Blog of Comics about Design (it should be published on Insta too, that could be a pretty way to make it alive again).

It will take time (I didn't started yet to search for it) and it will be on my other blog (sorry, only in french): design-et-identite.blogspot.com
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Gdyeah Waldo?

This was totally a bad pun about a bad fonetic russian...

We have heard a lot about Belarus after the country detourned a plane from its space to injail a political opponent. We don't hear anymore since, why?

Firstly: Byelorussia or Belarus? Well the first name was used after WWI but may have sounds too marked by the sovit period so now the second one is the official (and it's the actual government which made this decision).

In fact Belarus government was yet high in ou medias during springtime when they injailed a womand because... she was wearing white and red stripes socks: the politic opposition colours!

This is a song from the most popular children show in the 80's in France but these are more the colours of Waldo!

Red and white can have strong meanings in some religions but they mostly are the colours from... pre-soviet period, once again. The actual belarus flag is from 1995 (yet the actual president).

The main opponent said once these were "the colours of honesty" so every products (flags, scarves, umbrellas, bracelets) can become a silent symbol. The firm selling these socks stopped to produce it!

Injailing people because of what they're wearing is kind of stronger than French Education Ministry arguing about "non-republican" crop-tops in schools.

But this is a reminder of a book I've gifted a lot a long time ago, may it be red in schools...

Worker's right

Here is a "CV-blog" where I share my joys pains and profesional thoughts and here comes the 1st of May, International Worker's Day.

I've recently seen this data-vizualisation about worker's right violations all over the world:

I didn't checked if this is all exact so let's pretend it's right.

We can see France is not with the best as we are in the second rank: repeated violations of rights.

We can see the countries with which we are "modelling" the world (mostly the economic one) are globaly violating worker's rights... when they have worker's rights!

 

That's it, see you, I'm going to have some lilys (the flower we traditionaly wear on this day in France).

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Renault Captivating

I'm still sketching from times to times, like yesterday night instead of going to sleep, when I thought that an Audi Q2 was nothing more than an A3 with angular arches, big wheels and new faces:

These sickle-cut fenders remind me of those of the new Peugeot 2008 while the Renault get bogged down in soft curves.

Yes, I'm right giving my opinion about the work of people who have the job I 've never been able to do!

Renault Clio range has no more break as the Captur is 15cm longer (the Duster event more and at the top there will be soon the Arkana a 4-doors-hatchback-SUV -they do know how to invent new body concepts but not the how to name these-) and I was wondering how there could still be a place for a more dynamical Captur, using more of the body parts from the Clio like the Q2 went from the A3:

First I tried Captur's fenders and lights on the Clio... and it's way to close from a Captur so I went to a body-builded aim but this seems to be a silly Clio Cross (that has no reason to exist)

So I came with some Morphoz inspirations, the last in time Renault's concept-car. With roof bars and a deeper trunk (like the Citroën Saxo on the Peugeot 106) so it's kind of a station wagon maybe with a Captur-like colored roof:

This will not revolutionize the Renault's design, at least i gave me fun at almost midnight!

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September of Books

 Mid-September is also the time for the literary re-entry.

May this be part of the French Cultural Exception? I'm not sure.

A few hundreds books come in the bookstores at the same time of the year, and that's now. So I'v read one.

Okay, I have to admit this is a 3 years old book. It was lost on a table at my parents home (my sister likes this kind of litterature).

I don't.

I have to say that the title was also attractive to me, a souvenir of a not too old trip in the US.

There is on very good point on this kind of book. It's 561 pages but the 11 firsts are dedicated to the presentations of the title, the author, the editor. The rest is written quite big with like 20 lines of 8 words a page.

For real:

Yep.

But the story was not my taste. The Willing Suspension of Disbelief doesn't work when too much details keep me out from the author's fantasm like he was a superheros in a thriller movie. 

For example one of the main characters is a policeman and he went with his wife and his daughter (who is too old to benefit the young child pay-off) travelling all over the world every year. He has an artistic culture I can't believe for a policeman. A lot about jazz music so of course that calls Boris Vian's ghost who wrote a lot of books quoting jazz references because he was in love with this music. He was writing this easily, light and sometimes funny.

In this book I found this heavy, permanent and too much.

Mainly the characters are unable to take a logical decision. Well I can understand that what you would call a novel, if they are logical there is no drama.

The same policeman is in the east of France one night and in NYC the newt morning. Is it even possible to have your passport - visa - plane ticket in such a few time?

 

In resume I don't really enjoy this kind of book.

That's like a Tarantino's movie, at the end I need to see again a good movie from the genre he decided to "swede". Frison-Roche, Umberto Eco, Maxime Gorki. I don't like this idea because I don't read a lot of fiction so I'ld prefer to discover a new one rather than re-reading one I know.

My dad let me another book to read so this will be my first choice for the end of this month.

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A New Blog?

A long time ago I had a blog, which was on a platform which closed. I didn't save anything as I was really disappointed. Now I think that has been an error, may the notes have been good.
Then I started this blog, personal, and another one to help my survey about public spaces design.

I haven't wrote anything on this second blog since 2013, but I never forgot it!
I didn't defined my redactional strategy yet but I wanted to relaunch it.
Firstly, as I wrote here, I want to republish my former blogs and when a rumour saying that Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could make a new group together I did wanted to restart it.
I didn't had time for that so I said no to myself but tonight I was tired so I wrote a new note!

Here comes the new note, only in French, about Lancia, a car brand I do like a lot, but I'm not sure it really like itself...
Here it is.

Robledo

If you ask this is the title of a book.
By Daniele Zito.

The author explore how a job give us a respectability.
A reporter investigates Work For Work. People who go to work, without being payed, just to have a place in the society.
No contact no salary no insurance but tasks in the crowd of other people. "I need a job, I need to publish and I need money. I can't handle anymore to eat low cost products. I can't handle anymore to dig strangers to reconnect my gas and electricity." [personal translation I haven't found the english version] 

A book every politician should read to understand what they are conducting us into? (no, I know they do know that and they want it to happen)

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Habana is 500

It said that the very first  mess in Cuba was celebrated 500 years ago!
So the American need this kind of point to officialize the birth of a city, like no one was there before?

 I don't care, well I care as I've been in Habana 16 years ago. I'm not planning to go back there, maybe one day.
I wrote a few notes for the WorldWideDesignBlogs after that, blogs that are no more online. I was planning to re-publish these, I should start one day!

Before I'm going to prepare myself a mojito, even if the mint from my garden is not very fresh...
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Magnum P.I.

Something like 2 years ago I was telling all the bad I was thinking about the remake of MacGyver, one of my favorite TV shows from when I was a child. They didn't try about The A-Team (well, they made a not so bad movie about that) but I've just dicovered that after MacGyver and Hawaï 5-0 the same producer remade Magnum P.I.!

Why not reusing a character who was a fixed point for a generation, to touch the next one (to sell it toys?), I haven't seen any episode but the trailer:

So here comes an ex-Navy Seals (the bests of the bests) who definitively skipped the leg days and skip everything to become a private detective after been honored (and he doesn't need to shave before wearing the uniform???) working with his old fellows and an old english majordome (this time this will be a pretty young women, not a coloured-one we are not Disney) and as she is now a woman she will flirt with the main character so the girls will look at the show waiting for the love affair to be, this is how you make a soap main broadcast TV show now.

Our hero starts the trailer with a Ferrari 488 Spider, the "small" sportcar from the actual range like the modern version of the car the moustache was driving in the 80's. Dobble check when the car is destroyed in wath seems to be the very first episode so he takes back the 80's one... we can see destroyed once again during a veeery bad 3D animation (grrrr that's low cost like the MacGyver remake).

All these things are like in the previous remakes, so bad, I'm not waiting this new one to be better so I will not look that. I prefer not going to see the new Fast & Furious!
Except if they bring us a crossover episode with the 3 franchises!

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!Hasta la Muerte!

There were so much famous deaths in 2016, including Fidel Castro, one of the giants of the XXth Century.

I "almost" saw him when I was in Cuba 13 years ago. He came to see a concert which I saw the beginning. I saw on the screens when he was arriving and I saw his leg, at this moment the small flags went wriggling in the air so I saw no more. And they still were in the air when I left so I didn't saw Fidel, therefore he was 25m away from me!

He was no more in charge officially but he kept an affection and a moral guidance til the end. I really don't know what will become Cuba now he's gone.
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Fanfaronnades are Back

I didn't heard about the first Fanfaronnades, then I went as a spectator and in 2009 I went as musician with Amfifanfare. We went back in 2011 on a bad stage for local bands.
In 2012 I started to play with Le GrandMACHINChose, the band which organize all that jazz, so I've been part of the 2013 staff. And even more in 2015 with a partially new-squad, and I'm still in the adventure for 2017.

Oftenly you do what you know to do, so for me the communication.
I'm not the only one to make it but I'm sure that a person knowing this, present everytime and all along, able to answer the press whenever they asked, is really part of the success when the village of Trentemoult had to accept 12,000 visitors during 2 days in May 2015!
We are not about breaking records but I assure that the kind of strike gives you the aim to make it another time, you are no more tired.

That's a good time to visit our archives.
I've found the all-first schedule (2004):

A simple page on pink paper.
I think that  2011 (that's was for the 10th anniversary of the band) someone working in advertising agency made it better. A booklet + flyers + poster with schedule (I think the website went after).


For 2015 we decided to use only the poster as schedule, booklet and flyers.
I didn't designed the poster, neither the graphic designs, I am the one who managed all of this! And I'm proud of that.

For 2015 we made a real press release, with different versions, a large update on the website and a good contact with the press.

And now we start again!
It will be in May 6th and 7th (the day of the second part of the french presidential election) with a thematic Acoustic Warming, that will jazz along the Loire!

Sasto Vesto

Amfifanfare is in Romania, to play, and to learn with musicians we played some music:



What abut the country?


Let's follow us:
https://www.facebook.com/amfifanfare?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/amfifanfare

They Kill Jaurès

The Big History will remain us the World War First all this year as it started one hundred years ago exactly.
Some French national day commemorations was yet in this amalgam (the national day should be about the popular Revolution)... We easily forget than a man with others but more known than others has done everything to prevent it, until his own life.

Born into a farmers family, best student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in philosophy, republican journalist, he unify the socialist movements after a strong miners strike in Carmaux, and he's among of those who oppose a war that would benefit only the ones who won't fight in.

He's killed by a patriot believing that war defends nation and nation defends people.
Gramsci wrote "By murdering Jaurès, the national idea was logical to the absurd. Requesting for itself to his opponents, on the basis of their principles, the most complete freedom, but, on the basis of its own principles, it denies them freedom.
It considers men as things, not as thinking beings, not as divine craftsmen of the Universe. And it kills the best among them to strangle the voice of the masses, to eclipse the collective consciousness. Because, by denying freedom, it does not know this value or strength. Because it believes, as the reaction always believed, that burning a book means to destroy an idea, and that killing a man enslaves all men" [GRAMSCI Antonio, 1916 in Avanti!].

I'm not sure that my anti-patriotism is borned into the fight of Jaurès, I've not read enough of his writings but I feel a part of my mind comes from his thoughts. The story is that he should have answered a journalist who pointed out he was eating chicken (which was expensive at the time): "Socialism is not about banning those who can afford to eat chicken, it's about allowing everyone to eat chicken" (certainly not the same caliber as our actual "socialists"...), and I like that vision.

"His commemoration, however, is not a trivial reminder to those who have no memory, just as it is an academic ritual that we would glorify a man and create an idol. This is a affirmation of life, the glorification of an idea." [GRAMSCI, id.]. And I like to think that this idea is that of peace, and therefore justice.

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Supply and Demand

A small comics from James, published in french economic magazine Challenges this week (from Dans mon open space #4) :

_More the 130,000 jobs remain vacant... Ah! The year is starting well...

Sure, all these unemployed prefer to stay at home hanging out!

_It muste be bad jobs, that's all.

_What do you say?

_If a product does not sell, it not because of the consumer.

It's just because it is bad, or it's not adapted to the market, isn't it?

Consumer is king, you thaugt me that.

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10 years!

On the 28th of August, 2003, I landed in Cuba! I've been there for my "out of France" school semestery and I had choosen an internship in unexpected latitudes (industrial design in Havana, hahaha).

Peddler!

May and June have been tiring as I was running from a band festival to another each week (the ones you organize and the ones you "just" play music) and I have to prepare my summertime.

A summertime I passed walking in the mountains from a pasture to another to promote the Beaufort Cheese and allow people to meet producers.

You can find all the details of the site of the Labor union(Syndicate) of defense of the cheese Beaufort, their page Fb as well as the site of New the Ob ' who(which) was partner.


A commercial action ended during the Mountain Agriculture Show in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. We still have days to debrief and I would quickly start a new job in Nantes if everything goes well. An opportunity to restart this resume-blog I forgot when I've been overbooked!

You can see all about this on the Beaufort cheese defense Union website, in their Fb page either on the partnership page with le Nouvel Obs'.

Project 52 – 30/52: Cuba Libro

The 26thof July in 1953 a terrorist group was attacking a military casern in Cuba. One of these men was Fidel Castro and he said during the judgement ''The History will judge me.''

Free he went in exil to prepare his revolution against U.S.A. imperialism he won in 1959. His political party took the name of Movement of the 26^th of July.

Ubuntu and .pdf

The main principle of the alternative is that sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't work.
When it made about a software (no, sorry, it's not a reason to consider Windows as alternative) it's a real problem...

For example I'va made my book in .pdf and it's a 14MB assembled document, so I've to compress it to email it. I've tried softwares on my Ubuntu but no one allowed a good compression (if you have an idea, comments are open). One of them created a 235MB file...

Well, I asked a friend to help me, I do thank him as the Acrobat compression took him half an hour... Yes, that's a lot, I know, but here is what I saw when he sent me the file:

You're not dreaming: without picture the page is clear but when there are photos it's unreadable (texts and vectors).
Except that the file is well-displayed with Windows and Mac... If an Ubuntu-expert read this, please, help me to cook good .pdf!

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Dreamjob: 10 - Top Model Assistant

Another way to be with the most beautiful girls of the world is to work in the fashion world backstages. The absolute dream for a lot of occidental men!

Nicole Trunfio is an Australian 25 years old top model detected in the TV show Search for a supermodel. She offers a fall internship on her official Facebook page:

You have to be an experimented New-Yorker to assure the administrative responsabilities for the girl. The recrutment way by virtual social network is interesting.

There are two assigments to apply: first you have to write a letter thanking for an invitation, then you have to source 3 price options to send this letter.

I'm so far form Manhattan than I will search for another job.



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To candidate 2: Reputation

I've worked as freelance so I received request for internships and even job applications by architects designers and planners!
There are people who don't write a word about your work and there are others who wants to do well (and I really think I did the same in the past) writing a sentence that seems to do well:

'' Your structure has the means to achieve this goal.

Your reputation and quality are for me a guarantee of success.''

But it isn't well done.
Which reputation? Which quality? I have maybe 4 or 5 articles in some media, where has he found a reputation? Or I have a bad one in all planning firms but I don't think so!

I really think that is a kind of sentences to forget as it doesn't make the recruiter happier, and I prefer someone to criticize one of my projects (even negatively, at least it is a builded idea).



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